I actually think its a quite polarizing comment. "Being from the South..." Seriously?!?!?! What are all us nasty Yankee northerners tactless clods? I've been to the South and the people there are no more polite (or rude) or better versed in etiquette then from anywhere else. Couldn't she have just said "I do not want to assume anything about being invited" without a nasty little implication about somehow being more polite because she's southern?

I actually think its a quite polarizing comment. "Being from the South..." Seriously?!?!?! What are all us nasty Yankee northerners tactless clods? I've been to the South and the people there are no more polite (or rude) or better versed in etiquette then from anywhere else. Couldn't she have just said "I do not want to assume anything about being invited" without a nasty little implication about somehow being more polite because she's southern?

I actually think its a quite polarizing comment. "Being from the South..." Seriously?!?!?! What are all us nasty Yankee northerners tactless clods? I've been to the South and the people there are no more polite (or rude) or better versed in etiquette then from anywhere else. Couldn't she have just said "I do not want to assume anything about being invited" without a nasty little implication about somehow being more polite because she's southern?

I doubt she was saying "I'm from the South and therefore entirely etiquettely superior to those rude Yanks!" I'd guess she was just playing with the "polite Southern belle" stereotype. I can see how it could be taken that way, but why assume the worst?

And FTR, I'm a Northerner.

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POD. I think it's an innocuous comment and it did not even occur to me to think that she was trying to imply that northerners were rude. I think sometimes offense is taken too easily where none is intended.

POD. I think it's an innocuous comment and it did not even occur to me to think that she was trying to imply that northerners were rude. I think sometimes offense is taken too easily where none is intended.

Just because someone says something is one way, doesn't mean everything else is the opposite. I think perhaps one of the reasons people think south = super polite is simply because etiquette and words like "sir" or "ma'am" are drilled into children from an early age. In the North, where I grew up, people take a more subdued, common sense approach. In my opinions, it seems to average out so people from both areas are roughly equally polite, it's just some people are more formal about it.

I actually think its a quite polarizing comment. "Being from the South..." Seriously?!?!?! What are all us nasty Yankee northerners tactless clods? I've been to the South and the people there are no more polite (or rude) or better versed in etiquette then from anywhere else. Couldn't she have just said "I do not want to assume anything about being invited" without a nasty little implication about somehow being more polite because she's southern?

I doubt she was saying "I'm from the South and therefore entirely etiquettely superior to those rude Yanks!" I'd guess she was just playing with the "polite Southern belle" stereotype. I can see how it could be taken that way, but why assume the worst?

And FTR, I'm a Northerner.

A little OT but when I was in America I found New Englanders to be the most polite, which really taught me not to put too much faith in stereotypes (also, IME, Americans cannot be beaten for hospitality.)